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How to define race and racism for your child

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How to define race and racism for your child

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From Principal Holmes

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These videos help to explain complex topics to kids

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The United States has a racism problem. The idea of tackling such complicated and hurtful topics in our homes and classrooms is daunting, but we can't look away. We MUST face it. Fortunately, we live in a time when technology provides resources, such as the anti-racism videos below, designed to support us as we navigate these difficult and painful conversations.

For Parents and Educators

It's crucial that you feel confident and prepared to lead important discussions about what it means to be not only "not racist," but resolutely anti-racist. Here are some resources to help you get ready.

Be Boldly Anti-Racist

Elementary school educator, Naomi O'Brien, asks: "How did I become boldly anti-racist? By following my mom's example. How can you be bold and set an example for your kids and students?"

How to Talk to Kids About Race

In a new episode of Home School, The Atlantic's animated series about parenting, author Jeremy Tisby offers advice on how to have a conversation with children about race, from experiential learning to watching classic animated films.

How I Teach Kids About Racism (Kindergarten and 1st Grade)

This video is about elementary school teachers sharing the lessons they teach each year to introduce the topic of racism to their kindergarten and first grade students.

How Parents Can Help Kids Understand the Protests and Fight Racism

Dr. Janet Taylor shares advice with parents who may be struggling to talk about racism and the unrest that has erupted after the death of George Floyd.

For Kids and Students

Whether you're curled up with your kids at home or leading a group of students, here are some educational anti-racism videos to help get the conversation started.

Let's Talk About Race

The Tutu Teacher made this video for kindergarten students. In the video, she discusses what racism is and how it's impacted the lives of Black and Brown people. She also reads aloud the story Let's Talk about Race.

Sesame Street: Color of Me Song

Sesame Street explores: "What is the color of 'you?' Is your skin color tan, light brown, milky white, or dark dark brown? Whatever color you are, be proud and sing along."

Sesame Street: Song: I Love My Hair

Sesame Street invites children to "...sing along and make the world aware that YOU love your hair!"

Systemic Racism Explained

Systemic racism affects every area of life in the U.S., from incarceration rates to predatory loans, and trying to solve these problems requires changes in major parts of our system. This video offers a closer look at what systemic racism is, and how we can solve it.

Discrimination Explained for Kids

In this video, Pop'n'Olly discover what discrimination means and provide a few examples. They also talk about discrimination and the law.

Sesame Street Explains Racism and Protesting

Sesame Street and CNN worked together to create the "Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism" town hall for kids and families.

Woke Read Alouds: Wings

In this video, Ki reads the story Wings by author/illustrator Christopher Myers. They take readers on a fun, animated, and thoughtful journey through the book, leaving time for think alouds and responses from kids. They also include reading strategies, resources, and tips for parents throughout. This resource serves as a full academic read aloud.

Kids Talk About Segregation

It's been 62 years since Brown v. Board of Education, but the percentage of racially segregated schools in the United States has been growing steadily over the past 15 years. New York has the most segregated schools in the country. This video talks to Bronx 5th graders about what segregation looks like today.

A Kids Book About Racism

This read aloud is, as the title suggests, a kids' book about racism. Inside, you'll find a clear description of what racism is, how it makes people feel when they experience it, and how to spot it when it happens.

A Kids Book About Belonging

This read aloud tackles what it's like when you feel like you belong to a group or family or team and what it's like when you don't. It addresses what it feels like when you don't fit in, or when others don't want you around. This book teaches kids how to belong to themselves and how that helps them belong anywhere.

SAY SOMETHING Read Aloud

This read aloud of SAY SOMETHING helps explain race to kids as well as the importance of speaking up.

Students Learn A Powerful Lesson About Privilege

Using a recycling bin and some scrap paper, this video showcases a powerful exercise about privilege. Do all students have the same opportunities?

Black Parents Explain How to Deal with the Police

Brave parents and their curious kids confront some of life's biggest and most uncomfortable lessons.

Film Kits for Classrooms

These classroom-friendly films and user guides will help you bring social justice topics to life. Incredibly, Teaching Tolerance offers these film kits for FREE for use in K-12 schools, public libraries, schools of education, houses of worship, and youth-serving nonprofit organizations.

Designed for in-service programs, this training tool for early grades educators profiles classrooms in which peace, equity, and justice are guiding themes. (Available for order.)

This film takes viewers to the very communities where heinous acts of violence took place, offering a painful look back at lives lost to lynching and a critical look forward. (Available for streaming only.)

The film tells the story of a courageous group of students and teachers who, along with other activists, fought a nonviolent battle to win voting rights for African Americans in the South. (Available for order.)

This special teachers' edition of the Oscar-winning documentary film tells the heroic story of the young people in Birmingham, Alabama, who brought segregation to its knees. (Available for order.)

A Time for Justice, an Oscar-winning documentary, captures the spirit of the civil rights movement through historical footage and the voices of activists who sat, sang, and marched. (Available for order.)
What anti-racism videos do you feel are important to education? Share in the comments below. Also, 19 Black Teachers on Instagram to Listen To and Learn From.

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21 Anti-Racism Videos To Share With Kids

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The United States has a racism problem. The idea of tackling such complicated and hurtful topics in our homes and classrooms is daunting, but we can't look away. We MUST face it. Fortunately, we live in a time when technology provides resources, such as the anti-racism videos below, designed to support us as we navigate these difficult and painful conversations.

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Kid-Friendly Version of the 13 Guiding Principles of Black Lives Matter

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Kid-Friendly Version of the 13 Guiding Principles of Black Lives Matter

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The Conscious Kid: parenting and education resources, through a critical race lens

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The Conscious Kid: parenting and education resources, through a critical race lens

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The Conscious Kid is an education, research and policy organization that supports families and educators in taking action to disrupt racism, inequity and bias

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Do the books your kids read reflect the diversity of our community and the world? When you buy books or check them out from the library make sure your selection of books show kids of different skin colors and with different life experiences from your own.

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Diverse BookFinder | Identify & Explore Multicultural Picture Books

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Are you looking for multicultural children’s books? We’ve got you covered! You can search our circulating collection of picture books (2002-present), explore our quick lists, then borrow our books from your own library through interlibrary loan. We believe that too many children are left out of main…

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Diverse book lists, including one for BLM @ School Week of Action

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Diverse book lists, including one for BLM @ School Week of Action

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More resources for diversifying your kids' book shelves

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Posts about Book Lists written by Kaitlin Kamalei Brandon

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Compiled by BUSD Library Services

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You can get all of these books from the Berkeley Public Library! Clicking on the book covers below will take you straight to an e-book available through Sora or, in cases where ebooks are not available, to the Berkeley Public Library catalog, where you can place a physical copy of the book on hold.

For Sora ebooks, you will be prompted to log in through Clever. More information on how to access Sora is .

You will need a Berkeley Public Library card to order books through the Berkeley Public Library catalog. If you need a Berkeley Public Library card, . Curbside pickup of library materials is available at the Berkeley Public Library - for more information.

At a time when so many small businesses are struggling to keep their doors open, we also encourage folks to support our local bookstores :

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You can get all of these books from the Berkeley Public Library! Clicking on the book covers below will take you straight to an e-book available through Sora or, in cases where ebooks are not available, to the Berkeley Public Library catalog, where you can place a physical copy of the book on hold.

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Embrace Race has lots of resources to help your kids be more thoughtful, informed, and brave about race. Topics include how to talk about race,  how to support kids of color, how to raise young activists, and how to manage racial stress.

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Embrace Race has lots of resources to help your kids be more thoughtful, informed, and brave about race. Topics include how to talk about race,  how to support kids of color, how to raise young activists, and how to manage racial stress.

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EmbraceRace supports parents to raise children who are brave, informed and thoughtful about race. Join the movement!

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A Guide for Parents and Teachers

Recent eventshave led many parents and teachers to seek out resources to address issues of race and inequality with young children. We share with you here an excerpt from the book Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. The book offers practical guidance to early childhood educators (including parents) for confronting barriers of prejudice, misinformation, and bias about specific aspects of personal and social identity; most importantly, it includes tips for adults and children to respect each other, themselves, and all people. Read more about anti-bias education. Also, see the Movement for Black Lives platform and Teaching Black Lives Matter.
By Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards
Adults sometimes ask: Aren't prejudice, discrimination, and anti-bias adult issues? Why bring children into it? In one sense, these are adult issues. Adults have the power to create, to teach, to maintain bias-and to eliminate it. In another sense, because the realities of prejudice and discrimination begin to affect children's development early, it is developmentally appropriate to address them in our work with young children.

Young children need caring adults to help them construct a positive sense of self and a respectful understanding of others. They need adults to help them begin to navigate and resist the harmful impact of prejudice and discrimination. A person's early childhood years lay the foundation for a developmental and experiential journey that continues into adulthood. With appropriate adult guidance, this foundation will be a strong one, providing the base for the next stages of healthy development and the skills a person needs to thrive and succeed in a complex, diverse world.

Anti-bias education is an integral part of the "bricks and mortar" of emotional well-being and social competence, as well as an emotional foundation upon which children fully develop their cognitive capacities. A healthy sense of self requires that children know and like who they are without feeling superior to others. Understanding and liking one's own personal and social identities open up the possibilities of building caring connections with others. Thinking critically about stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination takes away barriers to comfortable and respectful interactions with a wide range of people and gives children a tool to resist negative messages about their identities. Strong cognitive development is also enhanced when children develop curiosity, openness to multiple perspectives, and critical-thinking skills.

[Below are some topics to explore with your children. Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves has strategies, activities and ideas to spark discussion on each of these topics.]

Strategies for learning about physical differences and similarities

Creating a rich anti-bias learning environment sets the stage for discussion and activities about racial and other physical differences and similarities. The richer the environment, the more likely children will ask questions, even in classrooms where the staff and children come from similar racial backgrounds.

In all activities, highlight that physical diversity among people is desirable, and that all colors, shades, and shapes of people are beautiful. Talk about differences in a tone of delight and interest. Create a vocabulary that encourages children to look at themselves and others and admire their sameness and their uniqueness. Just as we do not wait until a child asks questions about how to read before planning how to provide a range of literacy learning opportunities, anti-bias education is the teacher's responsibility, not the child's, to initiate.

Caution-Never single out one specific child when you do activities about the physical characteristics linked to racial identity. Every activity should be about all of the children, as everyone has a racial identity. Moreover, doing activities about all children reinforces that differences and similarities can be found within each racial identity group as well as across groups.

Exploring skin color, hair, and eyes
Children are active observers of physical characteristics. As they become familiar with some of their own features and those of their classmates, help them to have vocabulary and ideas to understand sameness and difference. There are many ways to involve children in discovering similarities and differences among themselves, their teachers, and their families.

Focus on children's confusion about their own skin color
If, when you invite the children to make self-portraits, a child chooses colors that do not correspond to his actual skin, eye, or hair coloring, consider gently encouraging the child to choose the color closest to his skin color.

Expanding awareness of racial similarities and differences
After helping children become aware that the people within their family are alike and different, it is important to expand their knowledge and awareness to groups of people beyond those in the classroom and neighborhood. As children grow, they move into ever wider and more diverse settings, and we want them to be open to and respectful of all kinds of people they may encounter.

Fostering critical thinking and respectful relationships

Positive and accurate learning experiences about human differences and similarities help to give children a foundation for resisting incorrect and harmful messages about themselves and others. Preschoolers are ready to begin thinking critically about the accuracy and fairness of the information and images they encounter. They also have the capacity to use their developing empathy to understand that unfair behavior hurts people and can learn respectful ways of interacting with others. Teachers can use the following strategies to promote young children's development of these understandings and competencies.

Cultivate children's empathy and ways to deal with the hurt of stereotyping. Read books that depict children experiencing unfair treatment based on their racial identity.

Tell persona doll stories about a discriminatory incident between dolls, engaging children's empathy and problem-solving skills.

Intentionally plan activities to counter potential overgeneralizations or existing stereotypes in the children's general environment.

Support children as they demonstrate awareness of stereotyping.

Engage children in group action. It is empowering when we help children take something that is "unfair" into something "fair." Sometimes this involves addressing personal conflict, helping a child speak up for another child. But it is particularly powerful when children act together.

If we want children to thrive in a diverse world and choose to stand up for themselves and others, then we must choose to help young children make sense out of the confusing and often emotionally charged messages they receive about themselves and others. The commitment to support each child to develop pride and self-confidence and deep connections with others calls on us to foster all children's healthy racial identity. When we give children language to discuss their identities in an atmosphere of interest and delight, and the tools for addressing the unfairness they will inevitably encounter, then we know we have helped children construct a strong foundation for the next phases of their lives.

Early Childhood Books for Teaching about Racial Identity
More titles for young children about racial identity.

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Teaching Young Children about Race - Teaching for Change

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A Guide for Parents and Teachers Recent events have led many parents and teachers to seek out resources to address issues of race and inequality with young children. We share with you here an excerpt from the book Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves.

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Join the 8th Emerson Racial Equity Circle this Spring! 

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Join the 8th Emerson Racial Equity Circle this Spring! 

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The Equity Circle is a learning and discussion group where Emerson parents/guardians and staff engage in “real talk” about diversity and inclusion, improving student achievement, and increasing family engagement from diverse backgrounds. This interactive circle will be facilitated online by education equity expert, Pamela Harrison-Small and is generously supported by the Emerson PTA.

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Web word processing, presentations and spreadsheets

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How to talk to young children about the 13 Guiding Principles of Black Lives Matter

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How to talk to young children about the 13 Guiding Principles of Black Lives Matter

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The 13 Guiding Principles of Black Lives Matter

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The 13 Guiding Principles of Black Lives Matter

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Learn about each principle

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Our original thirteen principles came from the Global Black Lives Matter Network. At this time, we want to remain connected to a broader message and the history of the first week of action, which centered on these thirteen principles. We have rewritten the description of many as we recognize that language is always evolving. We aim to capture putting these ideals into practice on a national and local level using language that is accessible, inclusive, and currently relevant.

The Black Lives Matter Movement is guided by the following principles. We seek to expand student understanding of these principles through the week of action.

1. Restorative Justice
As we forge our path, we intentionally cultivate and sustain an environment that is rooted in compassion and empathy, where we can make mistakes, grow, and express the fullness of our humanity.

2. Empathy
We cultivate empathy by seeking understanding and engaging comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts.

Our interactions are guided by a commitment to embody justice, peace, and liberation. 3. Loving Engagement

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4. Diversity
We recognize, accept, and celebrate the unique qualities that make us different and the shared perspectives, circumstances, and commonalities that connect us.

5. Globalism
We recognize that we're part of the global Black family in a common struggle toward liberation. We stay attuned to the different ways we are impacted including our privilege as Black folx who exist in different parts of the world alongside our other contexts. ​

6. Queer Affirming
We reclaim the word queer as an act of defiance and in solidarity with those who have paved the way for us to live openly. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of cis-heteropatriarchal assumptions. We foster a network in which all people can be genuine and express their authentic, embodied selves.
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7. Trans Affirming
We are self-reflexive and consistently do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege. We hold space for our siblings who are agender, intersex, transgender, and gender expansive to participate and lead. We uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be targeted and subjected to violence. We work outside of the binary to achieve full liberation.

8. Collective Value
We are guided by the fact that all Black lives, regardless of sex assigned at birth, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, economic status, ability, disability, education, location, age, immigration status, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, matter. None of us are free until we are all free.
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9. Intergenerational
We cultivate a communal network free from ageism and adultism because of our belief in the leadership and learning potential of all people, regardless of age. We recognize and celebrate the intergenerational relationships that have always been and must continue to be when working for justice.

10. Black Families
We make our spaces family-friendly and enable caregivers to fully participate with their children. We oppose the practice that demands double duty, where one is expected to parent in private but engage in public work. We recognize that family includes our chosen families.

11. Black Villages
We disrupt the narrow Western prescribed nuclear family structure expectation. We support each other as extended families and villages that collectively care for one another, especially "our" children. We believe that radical care belongs in the public sphere.

12. Unapologetically Black
We are unapologetically Black in our positioning. In affirming that Black Lives Matter, we need not qualify our position. To love and desire freedom and justice for ourselves is a necessary prerequisite for wanting the same for others.​ We proudly embrace our Blackness.
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13. Black Women
​We build a space that affirms Black women by centering their experiences. We recognize the many ways patriarchy shows up so consistently work to maintain a space free from sexism and misogyny, actively disrupting patriarchal culture.

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National coalition organizing for racial justice in education.

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WATCH: Parenting in Support of Black Lives - How to Build a Just Future for Kids

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WATCH: Parenting in Support of Black Lives - How to Build a Just Future for Kids

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Parenting in Support of Black Lives: How to Build a Just Future for Kids

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The Emerson community has endorsed a Desired Racial Equity Outcome Plan, known simply as the Equity Plan. It was drafted by a racially diverse group of parents and staff, who were guided by a professional facilitator, and approved by the Emerson PTA Board in 2015. The goal of the Equity Plan is to build a culturally inclusive, racially equitable and welcoming school that empowers the Emerson community to achieve cultural competency. It also aims to remove cultural and racial barriers that prevent every student from reaching academic proficiency.

The Equity Plan serves as a roadmap for our equity efforts, and provides concrete recommendations for getting closer to our goals. Read the Plan here.

Equity on the Emerson PTA Board

Several years ago, we added the position of Equity Liaison (now Equity VP) to our PTA board. The Equity Liaisons work to support the Equity Plan, encourage parents and guardians to take action on behalf of underserved students, and ensure that all families feel welcome at Emerson. They meets with the Teacher Equity Liaisons and our Family Engagement Officer.

The Equity Liaisons advise PTA organizers on cultural events and celebrations, such as Black History Month assembly, Dia de los Muertos, and Arab cultural events. In addition, they work to ensuring all Emerson activities, programs, and events are viewed through an equity lens, using tools such as a Cultural Competency Checklist for event planning to ensure that all Emerson families feel welcome and included.

Racial Equity Circles

Each year, Emerson PTA supports Racial Equity Circles to address racial and ethnic barriers to student achievement and parent involvement that arise at our school. The Circles are run by a professional facilitator and consist of a small group of parents, guardians, teachers, and staff who meet over the course of the school year to engage in dialogue and problem solving. We share different perspectives and experiences in a safe environment, create shared accountability and collaborate on actions that impact attitudes, practices and policies.

Each year, the Equity Circle comes up with recommendations and action steps to reach the goals of the Emerson Equity Plan. Many of the Equity Circle's ideas, such as requiring all teachers to attend Cultural Competency training every year, the creation of the Equity Liaison position and the Cultural Competency Checklist, have come to fruition through the hard work of the Equity Circles.

Together, we are strong. We invite you to join us in meeting our equity goals. We need your engagement, ideas and enthusiasm to succeed. Childcare and meals are provided.
Results of 2015-2016 Equity Circles
Your 2020-21 Emerson Equity Liaisons:

Vivian White
Katy Davis
Kelly Shimoda

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The Emerson community has endorsed a Desired Racial Equity Outcome Plan , known simply as the Equity Plan. It was drafted by a racially diverse group of parents and staff, who were guided by a professional facilitator, and approved by the Emerson PTA Board in 2015.

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Read the BUSD Resolution in support of Black Lives Matter

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Read the BUSD Resolution in support of Black Lives Matter

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At the June 10, 2020 Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education meeting, the School Board unanimously passed Resolution 20-064, In Support of Black Lives Matter. The Resolution was discussed and revised at the Board meeting and the final Resolution can be viewed here:
Resolution 20-064 in Support of Black Lives Matter in English Resolution 20-064 in Support of Black Lives Matter in Spanish
Noting that Black Lives Matter protests have swept the nation as demonstrators demand justice in response to the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and far too many other Black Americans to list, the Resolution In Support of Black Lives Matter includes the following action steps:

Develop Resources for Educators to be embedded in professional development as integral components of the District's work with teachers in all subjects;

Develop Resources that Focus on the Well-Being of Black Families - for the purpose of contributing to the ongoing need for healing;

Launch a Campaign - to celebrate the full experience of Black students, families, staff, and community members;

Support Black Lives Matter At School Week - February 1-5, 2021;

Initiate a School Renaming Process for Jefferson and Washington Elementary Schools in accordance with the District's policies;

Create Excellence and Equity at Longfellow Middle School through a review of resources, procedures, and other forms of support for Black students;

Proactively Identify Class and Cultural Biases - this includes practices, policies, and institutional barriers that negatively influence student learning, perpetuate achievement gaps, and impede equal access to opportunities for all students in order to eradicate institutional bias of any kind;

Strengthen and Document a Commitment to Racial Justice - this includes not only addressing the symbols of institutional racism and white supremacy, but also to proactively identify and address biases, practices, policies, and institutional barriers that perpetuate injustice and inequality in our schools and our community; and deliver quarterly reports on progress.

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Resolution In Support of Black Lives Matter | Berkeley Unified School District

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At the June 10, 2020 Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education meeting, the School Board unanimously passed Resolution 20-064, In Support of Black Lives Matter.

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At the table - both metaphorically and literally, we work, nourish, celebrate, strategize, grieve, grow, learn, and fight, together and alone.

The AntiRacist Table was created in response to the Racial Reckoning in America, as a way to bring AntiRacism into daily life as a daily practice. Educating Americans about African American history and the Black experience, along with rehumanizing Black people and motivating action to help create an AntiRacist America are our goals.

Ultimately, the choice is up to you-What awaits you is allyship, abolition, co-conspiratorship, and the dismantling of racism in yourself, your family, your community, your school, and your workplace.

Welcome to our table. Changemakers and forces for good unite!

Join The AntiRacist Table

30 Day Challenge!

Take a stand for humanity! Do you want to be part of the solution? Learn how to be an AntiRacist with our FREE 30 Day Challenge. The journey to cultivating a life committed to being AntiRacist is a lifelong pursuit that starts and ends with you. AntiRacism is an intentional daily practice that requires willpower, truth, love, and patience.

The AntiRacist Table 30 Day Challenge is specifically curated to educate, to help people face and get past shame, anger, and blame, and to develop empathy-all key elements of creating an AntiRacist America.

During the Challenge you will have opportunities to cultivate mindfulness and daily practices centered around equality, justice, and humanity as you integrate The AntiRacist Table Core Principles into your life. Engaging and interactive, the daily lessons infuse videos, readings, reflection, meditation, and other disciplines.

The Challenge will push you to unlearn, reflect, self-educate, and develop awareness of existing oppression, racial beliefs, biases, and privileges.

Register now to be part of our Challenge.

Your first day's lesson will arrive in your inbox tomorrow.

*NEW* The AntiRacist Table 30 Day Challenge Resource Ebook

By popular demand-we've compiled your favorite AntiRacist Mindfulness Practices and Communication Practices into a handy downloadable PDF! And because we strive to provide you with helpful tools we've included a few new ones. To make incorporating AntiRacism into your life as a daily practice a little easier, PURCHASE our handy and OPTIONAL Resource Ebook today.

Are you new to The AntiRacist Table and not a Challenge participant yet? You're sure to find our Resource Ebook and our Challenge to be well worth your time.

Testimonials
"Have you compiled these anti-racist mindfulness meditations in a way that they can be downloaded, or perhaps purchased? They are really wonderful, and would be helpful to have for the long haul. Thank you so much for this amazing course."

"Thank your for this. The challenge was such an anchor for me this summer-I really appreciated every day and missed the assignments once it was complete. So this is a real gift."

"Thank you for making this available!!"

THE ANTIRACIST TABLE

CORE PRINCIPLES

Intention - Set and live in the intention to cultivate an AntiRacist America and take action that dismantles racist policies.

AntiRacist - Create AntiRacist policies and engage in the world as an AntiRacist.

Individuality - See individuals as individuals- positive or negative qualities of the individual are not attributed to all.

Equality - Hold all groups of people-race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, age, and any intersectionality, as equal.

Empathy - Cultivate empathy by rehumanizing the dehumanized.

Courage - Put courage, compassion, and vulnerability over comfort.

Allies - Recruit and support partners committed to AntiRacist work.

Humanity - Take actions that support humanity.

Love - Choose love and healing over fear and oppression

Educate - Educate yourself and honor the history of others

Flowers for the Table
Flowers for the Table is an affinity space for Blacks by Blacks to nourish and rejuvenate our minds, bodies, and souls. This space is dedicated to the health and well-being of Black people. You will find joy and beauty here as you look after your well-being. We honor and celebrate Black culture by highlighting Black excellence. Join us at the Table for empowerment, joy, and inspiration.

Nurture the Narrative
Nurture the Narrative is a community space that provides tools to help you incorporate AntiRacism into your daily life as a daily practice. This is a space for education and re-education centered around being an AntiRacist. Spotlighting the importance and power of knowledge, this is a place for positive mirroring where affirming content will amplify our voices. Our Lessons of the Hour will feature short Black history segments as well as a book club on the seminal books, How to be an Antiracist and White Fragility .

We strive to support Black people in the work of healing from racial trauma, daily racial abuse, discrimination, and violence against Black people.

The work of being an AntiRacist will not be completed in one day, one year, or even one decade. We recognize that this work is difficult-the only way out is in, the only way through is through.

ABOUT US

We are the great-great-granddaughters of Caroline and Allen, who were born enslaved in the state of Alabama. We are the daughters of a Black man who grew up in segregation. We are the mothers of Black sons and daughter. This work is deeply personal to us. We feel and hear the call. It echoes at our very core. As Maya Angelou said, we are "the dream and the hope of the slave." We carry their legacy and the fight for human rights today.

We are activists and supporters of people in their quest to be the changemakers we need to create a just world for our collective future.

Kirsten is an attorney and a student of nonviolence communication (NVC), right speech, conflict resolution, and meditation. Her undergraduate degree is in African American Studies and English, and in addition to her JD, she holds an LLM in Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Lynn is an educator who is passionate about teaching young children and supporting families, work that she has done for over ten years. In addition to her Undergraduate degree in Fine Arts she has her MAT in Early Childhood Education.

The AntiRacist Table brings AntiRacism into daily life as a daily practice. Our 30 Day AntiRacist Challenge teaches people how to be an everyday AntiRacist. We support and empower people who want to help make America AntiRacist.With education and awareness, we work to reclaim Black humanity. At the Table, we are a voice for social justice through activism. We embrace emotion and use mindfulness, nonviolent communication (NVC), and right speech. Stand with and stand up for humanity at The AntiRacist Table!

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Help create an AntiRacist America- The AntiRacist Table

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At the table - both metaphorically and literally, we work, nourish, celebrate, strategize, grieve, grow, learn, and fight, together and alone. The AntiRacist Table was created in response to the Racial Reckoning in America, as a way to bring AntiRacism into daily life as a daily practice.

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Take Layla F. Saad's Parenting & White Supremacy Class

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Take Layla F. Saad's Parenting & White Supremacy Class

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A 90-Minute Good Ancestor Academy Masterclass

In this masterclass you will learn:

Why talking to kids about racism is so important, and so hard

How to get over the fear of talking with your kids about racism

What to talk about when you talk about race with your kids, and common mistakes to avoid

How to teach your kids how to practice anti-racism

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A 90-Minute Good Ancestor Academy Masterclass Why talking to kids about racism is so important, and so hard How to get over the fear of talking with your kids about racism What to talk about when you talk about race with your kids, and common mistakes to avoid How to teach your kids how to practice anti-racism

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Activity for kids: Write a letter to someone telling them what is important to you

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Activity for kids: Write a letter to someone telling them what is important to you

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Here is a list of contacts and addresses for people to write to (from Principal Holmes to Mayor Arreguin to Senators Feinstein and Padilla). CC the Emerson Equity Team! (emersonequitypta@gmail.com)

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Make a poster with your kids that addresses one of the 13 Guiding Principles of Black Lives Matter and display it in your window at home

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Make a poster with your kids that addresses one of the 13 Guiding Principles of Black Lives Matter and display it in your window at home

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Join Showing Up for Racial Justice Bay Area (SURJ)

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Join Showing Up for Racial Justice Bay Area (SURJ)

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SURJ Bay Area , based in Alameda County, is part of a national network of groups and individuals org anizing white people for racial justice. There are over 150 chapters and affiliates nationwide....

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Florida Housing Complex Forced to Stop Illegally Evicting Black Families

Last January we launched a rapid response campaign following a wave of evictions at Holly Court Apartments in Tampa. Victoria Lee, a tenant there, used our OrganizeFor platform to mobilize thousands of members and amplify tenant demands to fix the plumbing, honor leases, and support tenants who'd been illegally pushed out. Many families were given eviction notices on New Year's Eve for no reason at all and given just 30 days to find a new home. One mother reported having to go to the corner store to use the bathroom as raw sewage backed up in her tub. Management all but ignored calls for help and she had to call out of work for days because she couldn't shower. After the online petition and a sleep-in protest, Palm Communities agreed to honor residents' leases, provide temporary housing for displaced residents, and resolve maintenance issues. Housing is a human right, but far too often greed and profit trump the needs of Black and low-income residents who live in buildings owned by private equity firms. Your calls and text messages kept residents in their homes!

AT&T Pulls Funding from White Nationalist Network

With your help, we pressured AT&T to stop funding the far-right network One America News. OAN was a major vehicle for Trump, and has continued to provide a "friendly" platform for his allies. We've seen correspondents use racial slurs, call for the execution of election officials, suggest shooting unhoused people - all without consequence. OAN consistently promotes hate-filled content, and disseminates dangerous misinformation about the 2020 elections and safety of the COVID-19 vaccine, with the goal of provoking their audience. Research revealed a major reason for the network's success was support from AT&T. AT&T should know better. So thousands of Color Of Change members wrote to AT&T CEO John Stankey, and we were heard. One America Network has been removed from DirectTV. This is another step towards making sure the media isn't allowed to amplify racist lies that lead to real-world violence against Black people.

Biden Grants Clemency to 70 People on Home Confinement

Throughout the pandemic, we've fought to get incarcerated people who pose no risk to their communities but could fall deathly ill with COVID sent home. On April 26, 2022, nearly 150,000 Color Of Change members helped convince President Biden to free 70 people on home confinement. That means they can live independently, pursue their dreams, spend time with friends and family without electronic monitors or other dehumanizing conditions of confinement. It is historic for a president to grant so many clemencies in their first term. But thousands more people deserve to be free - and risk being sent back due to minor technicalities or bureaucratic errors. People on home confinement have had to turn down jobs or miss funerals because they're outside of the range they're allowed to travel. Biden promised he'd end mass incarceration and cut the prison population in half. Help us hold him to that.

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Color Of Change - Color Of Change helps you do something real about injustice.

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Last January we launched a rapid response campaign following a wave of evictions at Holly Court Apartments in Tampa. Victoria Lee, a tenant there, used our OrganizeFor platform to mobilize thousands of members and amplify tenant demands to fix the plumbing, honor leases, and support tenants who'd been illegally pushed out.

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In response to the overwhelming number of requests for recommendations of anti-bias children's books, we are launching the Freedom Reads: Anti-Bias Book Talk series. Beyond just sharing booklists, we want to share how we select high-quality, anti-bias books so that parents and teachers can do the same.

Teaching for Change associate director Allyson Criner Brown is producing the series for parents, teachers, and librarians. She explains,

Freedom Reads: Anti-Bias Book Talk is part anti-bias training, part book review. Each short segment explores anti-bias books for home and the classroom with the goal to strengthen parents' and teachers' anti-bias, anti-racism lens and their ability to critically analyze children's media.

The series is inspired by our Roving Readers program (parents read aloud in classrooms), anti-bias education resources and training, and reviews from our Social Justice Books website.

Designed with parents in mind, episodes run under ten minutes and each one walks viewers through a synopsis of the book, relevant resources, and four to five key points from an anti-bias, critical literacy lens. Freedom Reads is appropriate for parents, caregivers, and educators who may be early in their anti-bias, anti-racist journey (i.e. those wondering why Criner Brown shares her pronouns in her introduction) and those who are already avid learners.

Freedom Reads honors the rich tradition of reviewing multicultural children's books that began with the Council on Interracial Books for Children, which provided a social justice lens to reviews of children's literature, and has prominent figures including Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop. Here is our video introduction to the series.

Follow these links to view our first two episodes and find related resources:

We would love to take viewers on an extended journey through some of the best anti-bias and anti-racist books out there. Check out the series to-date and share your feedback and/or ideas for funding.

Learn more
Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children's Books
Read book reviews from members of the See What We See (SWWS) coalition, such as Edith Campbell's Crazy Quilts, Zetta Elliott, Reading While White, DeColores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children, Latinxs in KidLit, Disability in KidLit, Africa Access, American Indians in Children's Literature, Rethinking Schools, and Teaching for Change. Many of their reviews can be found on this site.

Note: Book titles on SocialJusticeBooks.org are linked to Powells.com (an independent, unionized bookstore) and/or Bookshop (indie bookstore platform). A small percentage from book sales through these links goes to Teaching for Change.

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Freedom Reads: Anti-Bias Book Talk Series - Social Justice Books

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In response to the overwhelming number of requests for recommendations of anti-bias children's books, we are launching the Freedom Reads: Anti-Bias Book Talk series. Beyond just sharing booklists, we want to share how we select high-quality, anti-bias books so that parents and teachers can do the same.

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Prepare yourself to discuss race, racism and other difficult topics with your children / students

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Prepare yourself to discuss race, racism and other difficult topics with your children / students

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Educators play a crucial role in helping students navigate current events and talk openly about the historical roots and contemporary manifestations of social inequality and discrimination. Learning how to communicate about topics like police violence, economic inequality, mass incarceration and white privilege requires practice, and facilitating these conversations demands skill-regardless of who we are, our intentions or how long we've been teaching.

Use these strategies to build confidence and prepare yourself to normalize conversations about race and racism. You can also use them to prepare yourself to discuss other types of discrimination, such as gender bias, ableism, and religious or anti-LGBT persecution.

Assess Your Comfort Level

Many educators avoid talking about race and racism. It can be uncomfortable, controversial and may call for skills few of us possess. Often, this avoidance comes down to fears of misspeaking, sounding racist or militant, exacerbating differences or hurting feelings.

Part of getting students ready to talk about race and racism is to first deal with our own feelings and experiences. Before starting a classroom discussion, do a simple self-assessment.

Consider the following statements and select the one that best describes how you feel.

I would rather not talk about race/racism.

I am very uncomfortable talking about race/racism.

I am usually uncomfortable talking about race/racism.

I am sometimes uncomfortable talking about race/racism.

I am usually comfortable talking about race/racism.

I am very comfortable talking about race/racism.

Then use a sentence-stem activity to self-reflect.

The hard part of talking about race/racism is ...

The beneficial part of talking about race/racism is ...

My own experiences of race taught me ...

My students' experiences of race are different from mine because ...

After reflecting on your own comfort level and experience, think about ways to grow confident.

Do you worry about your ability to answer students' questions about race and racism? If so, commit to accepting that you don't have all the answers , and embrace the opportunity to learn with your students.

Do you feel ill-prepared to talk about race and racism? If so, commit to learning more about the issues by studying history, following current events and brushing up on anti-racism work.

Do you reroute classroom discussions when you sense resistance or anger in the room? If so, commit to riding out the discussion next time.

Do you feel isolated in your experience of race and racism? If so, commit to identifying a colleague with whom you can co-teach, plan or debrief.

Find Comfort in Discomfort

Teaching about structural inequality such as racism requires courage and confidence-from you and from your students. It's normal to feel discomfort or anger as you reflect on your own experiences with racial inequality. But the more you engage in and moderate difficult conversations, the more confident you'll become. The conversations may not necessarily get easier, but your ability to press toward more meaningful dialogue will expand. Stay engaged; the journey is worth the effort.

Being uncomfortable should not mean being unsafe. With your students, establish classroom norms that include a list of specific words and phrases that students commit to not using. The list might include calling people's opinions "stupid" or "lame," using the n-word or the r-word, or saying, "That's so gay!"

Students can create and sign a contract of norms and behaviors that define the classroom community as a socially and emotionally safe place. The contract might include such statements as "Try to understand what someone is saying before rushing to judgment" or "Put-downs of any kind are never OK" or "Speak directly to each other, not the teacher." If students want to tell stories about their own racial identities and experiences, consider establishing a structure that allows each person to share uninterrupted, without response from other students. (See our resource on Serial Testimony for more information: tolerance.org/meaningful-discussions.) Established norms or a contract can help students support a healthy classroom environment and reduce the likelihood that you will have to intervene.

Be Vulnerable

Avoiding conversations about race and racism can arise from our own fears of being perceived as clueless, racist or militant. As you prepare to engage students in the conversation, consider this question: What will this discussion potentially expose about me?

Use the graphic organizer Difficult Conversations: A Self-Assessment to list three vulnerabilities that you worry could limit your effectiveness. Next, identify three strengths that you believe will help you lead open and honest dialogues. Finally, list specific needs that, if met, would improve your ability to guide difficult conversations.

Address Strong Emotions

Students' reactions to talking about race and racism will vary. They may react passively, show sorrow, express anger or respond unpredictably. Some students may become visibly upset; others may push back against discussing these topics in class. Many of these reactions stem from feelings such as pain, anger, confusion, guilt, shame and the urge to blame others.

Seeing members of the class respond emotionally may elicit reactions from you or other students. Guilt and shame can lead to crying that may immobilize conversation. Anger might lead to interruptions, loud talking, sarcasm or explicit confrontations-all of which can impede important dialogue. Your role is to remain calm and assess the situation. If the tension in the room appears to be prompting dialogue and learning, continue to monitor, but let the conversation play out. If the tension boils over in confrontation that jeopardizes student safety (emotional or otherwise), take steps to diffuse the situation.

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Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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Strategies for talking about race with your children

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Strategies for talking about race with your children

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Name race/Whiteness: Use children's books, media, advertisements to proactively "see" race with our youngest children. A toddler may not be able to understand what White privilege is but adults can already play an important role in making sure Whiteness is not invisible. See Why I talk about race when I read with my toddler or What I say about a children's book when all the characters are White for an example of what this sounds like.

Affirm children's questions/comments about race: When children bring questions/comments about race to you, make sure they know that you value their questions/comments and encourage future conversations. As a first step, say, "Thank you for sharing that, I'm glad you are thinking about these issues." Then do your homework and figure out how you can continue the conversation (see additional strategies for ideas!). Also, see Affirming children's questions and comments about race for an example of a simple affirmation.

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Strategies - Raising Race Conscious Children

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The following strategies have been modeled on this blog (this section will be updated periodically to reflect new blog posts): Name race/Whiteness: Use children's books, media, advertisements to proactively "see" race with our youngest children. A toddler may not be able to understand...

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Tips for having hard conversations across the divide

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Tips for having hard conversations across the divide

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Living Room Conversations is dedicated to bridging divides and transforming society through conversation.